User reviews

I'm going to start off by saying that the only reasons I give this movie an 8/10 and not a 10/10 are the sometimes overly corny and personal nature of the rhetoric. By personal I refer to how much this movie makes fun of individuals such as Spurlock (Super Size Me) and The Guy from CSPI (hehe).

With that aside, I have to say this an AMAZING movie. First of all, each negative review I have seen so far misses the point of this movie or simply criticizes it for its low budget nature.

What they do not admit is that, although it is a bit unprofessional to criticize him and others in such a personal fashion, Spurlock had it all coming. This movie clearing demonstrates that Spurlock's entire Super Size Me movie was a sham, was not only designed to prove a point, but was also highly deceitful.

I'm a big supporter of low carb dieting. Now before the reader gets ahead of me, I'm not suggesting you survive on steak and eggs alone. As the movie CLEARLY states, this would be unhealthy. The movie clearly argues in favor of controlling carb intake while maintaining healthy intake of fruits and vegetables. As well, I am not a low carb zealot. As an athlete and someone who takes a deep personal interest in diet, I understand that carbs have their place. However, most people I come across consume massively more carbs than what's appropriate. The movie correctly targets sedentary lifestyle, sugars, and snacking as being major culprits in fat problems.

On top of this, it does an exemplary job of busting the cholesterol, saturated fat, and low fat myths. One or more reviews I read complained that this movie ignores other aspects of a healthy diet beyond cardiovascular disease. That wasn't the focus of this movie, and by the very nature of it being a movie it must be limited in scope. What these reviewers don't mention is that low/moderate carb (100g give or take depending on activity level and goals) diets with plenty of fruit and vegetable intake have been shown to improve all markers of health, from blood pressure to cancer, stroke, arthritis, diabetes, you name it.

I find it sad that each review criticized the presentation methods or subjective opinion on the movie's humorous quality without addressing how incredibly scientifically and nutritionally insightful it is.

This movie presents a plethora of dietary information that is largely unknown by today's population and does so in a (personally speaking) entertaining fashion. For that I give it 8 stars, and will try and get everyone I know to watch it. If you're reading this and are not sure if you should watch it, just watch it, listen with an open mind, and research the points it makes on your own. You will not be disappointed.

While I think "Fat Head" is a very flawed film, I do recommend you watch it. It has many good points to make and makes you think...too bad the film is so ugly to look at and uneven that you might not bother watching the movie to its conclusion. Watch it...even if it is really ugly and could have used some work.

When the film begins, the filmmaker (Tom Naughton) brings up some possible inconsistencies behind Morgan Spurlock's film "Super Size Me". I really wish Naughton hadn't piggybacked on Spurlock's film, however, as although I agreed that Spurlock wasn't particularly fair in how he conducted his 'experiment', focusing all this energy against Spurlock seemed to deflect from THE most important message in "Fat Head"--that many of our dietary assumptions are wrong! Various experts throughout the film made convincing arguments that animal fats are NOT bad and should make up much of our diet. And, interestingly, the US government food pyramid we all followed for so long (which recommended consumption of HUGE amounts of grains) actually have made us fatter and less fit. But, focusing so much on Spurlock was done, most likely, for marketing reasons. As a result, the film seemed a bit ill-focused.

Despite these complaints, my biggest ones are because the film looks very amateurish. The graphics look incredibly cheap and ugly--really, really, really ugly. So, while Naughton is making some good points, he's doing it with graphics which would embarrass most viewers. Plus, sometimes Naughton made wonderful jokes and observations--and other times, he missed the mark and having some outsiders help him polish the film would have really helped.

The bottom line is that Tom Naughton has a lot of talent and made some wonderful observations. But, he simply needs polish and better direction. So, if he could perhaps work WITH A TEAM, the results would look so much better instead of looking more like a YouTube post than a movie. There's a lot to it....and try to look past its deficits.

I had a lot of questions and problems with the "science" of Super Size Me and evidently, Tom Naughton did, too. By refusing to accept the junk science about junk food, Naughton effectively and entertainingly digs up the skinny on fat and how folks get that way.

I had a lot of similar dieting experiences as the ones he relates to in the film, and my own research discovered a lot of what is revealed in Fat Head (the cooked data behind the Lipid Theory, the methodological flaws in the CDC Obesity report, etc.). But whereas I'm a lazy bastard who was content to learn that no, my body's NOT broken (but rather the Expert Ideas on how it should work are), Naughton went the extra mile and got health professionals and scientists to state on the record just why everything you think you know about fat and nutrition is wrong.

He never strays into the waters of conspiracy theory but hints at what COULD be the reason so many health professionals pushed a flawed agenda for so long.

As another user noted, the production values are not ILM-standard. So what? This film is all about the information and the manner in which it's presented is less important than what it's presenting. I suggest if you're really pressed for high quality funny animation, you throw on a Bakshi DVD and watch that. If you want animation that clearly and concisely conveys information, then the animation in Fat Head will do ya just fine.

I'm sure a lot of folks will NOT be happy with the info in this film. My question is, are they angry because it's wrong and harmful (and the evidence suggests it's not) or because it dares question the tribal notions of Fat and Sugar BAD!? I suspect option number two and bruised egos will do more to stir up their wrath than any problems with the information in Fat Head.

Well, that's their problem. Let 'em wallow in the horrors of Crap Veganism while the rest of us eat what nature programmed us to eat. I'm an omnivore and damned proud of it! Now if you'll excuse me, I'm up a for a nice brisk walk to KFC for a three-piece meal of Original Recipe...

I thought this documentary was all-in-all OK. I think the movie accomplished it's goal in a narrow-minded sense, which was to say that ultimately, consumers drive the market and it is up to the individual to make the correct decisions on what they are putting in their bodies. It is not the responsibility of the government to make our food choices for us. The other message that I thought was effectively conveyed was that having an occasional cheeseburger is not going to, in itself, give you a heart attack. However, depriving yourself from your biological urges can be stressful and can cause a backlash of overeating down the road.

I also appreciated the point that the movie made that simple sugars and refined carbohydrates with high glycemic indices such as high-fructose corn syrup are really the major dietary issue that our country should be focused on. Type II diabetes should be the target of our concern, and not animal fats (as far as dietary implications are concerned). Also, the sedentary lifestyle that the average American lives is a huge part of the problem, probably more so than what we are eating. Try telling Chad Ochocinco that the McDonald's that he eats before every game is going to make him fat or unhealthy.

On the negative side, I was off-put by the unsophisticated jabs that the movie kept taking at Spurlock and also the Vegetarian movement. I thought the movie did a poor and distasteful job of respectfully criticizing its opponents. The campy cartoons and name-calling really took away from the effectiveness of the film, and these tactics can quickly turn off an undecided audience, like me.

Also, the movie focused only on dietary/health issues. I thought the movie neglected the important issues of the environmental impacts of eating so much animal meat, the economic impacts, and the treatment of workers and animals.

The environmental argument: When humans eat animals, they are only utilizing 1% of the original energy in the ecosystem. When eating fruits/vegetables, we are using 10 x the energy from the environment. The rest is lost as heat/metabolic energy. Therefore, vegetarian diets are more efficient and sustainable for a large population than animal diets. The corporations also tend to be horrifically bad at keeping up to environmental and safety code, and usually find that it is more profitable to pay the fines and continue poor environmental/health safety practices, rather than correct the behaviors.

The economics argument: Most major corporations are milking the profits out of local economies and not paying it back to the communities or workers. Most employees of these companies can not live off of their wages and are not provided with decent benefits. In addition, many of these companies receive government subsidies for their ingredients and their employee benefits, which comes out of the taxpayer's paycheck. So there is a hidden expense to these companies and their affiliates that you are paying out of each pay check.

The animal ethics argument: The conditions that the animals live in are ridiculously poor. Most low-quality meat comes from just a few mega-slaughterhouses in the country, which is run upon the principle of "the more meat the better". The animal meat that you are eating is most likely from terribly unhealthy and mistreated animals (or in some cases genetically engineered), which hardly seems natural or healthy.

In the end, I thought the movie made some interesting points and deserves a watch if you are interested in nutrition, but still needs to be taken with a grain of salt (harharhar). Some of the points were good, but the movie was overall narrow in scope and a bit cheesy.

I felt compelled to write a review after seeing several poorly constructed ones here. Mine may not be a work of art but it's honest and I've been motivated to look into food, nutrition and health to a higher degree based on some recent experience.

My father died this July at 76. He didn't smoke or drink. He did have a strong penchant for juices, pastries and breads/cereal. He had become type II diabetic some years back. He was slightly overweight but from the outside you couldn't imagine he had 80/80/90% blockages in his 3 main coronary arteries. It was a surprise to me when he had a heart attack following knee replacement surgery (3/10) and by angiogram we discovered just how bad his health was. I didn't realize how diabetes and heart disease are closely linked. He eventually died from complications associated with diabetes/coronary heart disease and possibly depression. It all happened pretty suddenly, but the underlying conditions had been developing for years. If I knew what my sister (an MD) knew I would have seen the signs earlier.

"Fat Head" was recently introduced to me and I was struck by the incisive quality of Naughton's investigation. "Super Size Me" seemed very damning of fast food and those that were "stupid and lazy enough" to eat it. But Spurlock's representative's not releasing his food logs is very suspicious. That's where Fat Head comes in. Sure, it was cheesy in places but that's the point. Don't let the graphics and quips fool you - this really is a thoughtful, important movie that at the very least would invite viewers to dig deeper into the science of nutrition. The big take-away for me was to read more and I picked up one of the books mentioned in the movie "Good Calories, Bad Calories" by Gary Taubes. The history of how nutritional information has been lost/suppressed/perverted and ignored is striking. Yes, follow the money. Naughton doesn't strike me as a gold digger, nor a corporate patsy. Before making up your mind on any reviews (including mine), I encourage you to watch this and then dig deeper. I've been listening to my body for years when it told me a vegan/vegetarian diet just doesn't feel right. Now, via Fat Head and lots of additional research (GCBC), I'm starting to understand why. Our ancestors really did know what was going on. We'd be wise to consider that 'modern' medicine is only as good as the integrity to do real science when it comes to human health and not ignore evidence that doesn't suit our preconceived notions (as Ancel Keys famously did in being father of the incorrect Lipid Hypothesis).

This is one of the most IMPORTANT movies I've ever seen. That's why I'm giving it 9 stars.

As a Fortean (Google that if you're not sure), and a follower of a high fat, low carb diet (Google The Primal Blueprint) I appreciate his efforts in debunking the Conventional Wisdom and looking at the real results of scientific studies, and deriding the "experts" who had thrown out data that doesn't jibe with their theories. I mean, he eats like me. Double cheeseburger and diet soda. Except I don't eat the bun.

I would object to his rebuttal against Morgan Spurlock's "Super Size Me" He derides Spurlock for being, I suppose, elitist. He claims that Spurlock thinks poor people are "stupid" because they don't know any better to avoid eating fast food if they are overweight. Spurlock never claimed poor people are stupid, but I am sure he would admit that they are low information. Just like many Americans. That doesn't make them stupid, that makes them deprived of information due to the lousy job done by our public education system and corporate driven media, but that's an argument for another day.

In regard to Spulock's point about availability of food options among the poor, I have news for you, guy. If you have never been in a poverty stricken area, sometimes the only food options are McDonald's. Not even a supermarket. Maybe some beef jerky and Doritos from the liquor store, where the shop owner has to jack up his prices to obscene levels because he's been held up at gunpoint multiple times and his insurance is through the roof. But it's either that, McDonald's, starvation, or drive 15 miles to an area with decent choices. All not the best options.

Overall, people need to hear most of this movie, but I did not appreciate his ragging on Spurlock.

As far as "following the money," as this movie suggests, with the fast food industry versus the weight loss industry, one getting fat off getting people fat, and the other getting fat off getting people skinny (or trying to and failing), who can the average person possibly root for in that competition?

Let's be honest-- at 500 pages most of us aren't going to read "Good Calories, Bad Calories." This film serves as a much easier introduction to the theories and realities about why we get fat, what causes coronary heart disease and diabetes, and what we can do to reverse those conditions. In an easy-to-understand and humorous way, the film explains why the "obvious" reasons we are fat (access to fast food, fat in the diet, etc) are often the wrong answers. If you are trying to lose weight, have heart disease or type-2 diabetes, or just want to live a healthier lifestyle, grab a friend and sit down to watch this film.

"Supersize Me" was an entertaining film about the guy who decided to eat only McDonald's for a month and see what happens. But in "Fat Head" this other guy complains the earlier film doesn't seem real, and wants to prove you can eat fast food and not only stay the same weight but even lose some. There is some good discussion about what actually makes you gain weight and what causes it. I recommend to watch it to get some new perspective on things.

The technical side of the film looks a bit rushed, like a Youtube video. But since I actually watched it from Youtube it didn't matter that much.

An interesting documentary. Check it out.

Of course not - that would be Fight Club. But in spite of its low budget and cornball humor, "Fat Head" is a movie that could make a difference. Plus, it's funny. My teenage daughter and I were laughing all the way through.

I get the impression that making Fat Head as a reply to the "Super Size Me" crowd was decided upon as a way to set the stage for the actual information Naughton is trying to impart. That being said, I have to disagree with the reviewers who say that S.S.M. isn't science, and Fat Head isn't a rebuttal; In S.S.M., Spurlock comes up with his hypothesis (eating nothing but fast food is bad for you), devises a test, follows specific test procedures, and publishes his results and findings. Naughton looked at his test procedures, results, and findings, and found specific faults and inconsistencies, which Fat Head addresses. Sounds like what they taught me in high school science class!

More importantly, Fat Head brings out some REALLY important information for the people who are trying to be healthy and failing. I've been trying to get people to read Gary Taube's "Good Calories, Bad Calories" (frequently referenced in Fat Head), which is of critical importance to our nation's health, but is...a bit dry. The fact that a lot of people HAVE read it is a tribute to its impact. Naughton takes that information and puts it in a nice, tasty, biodegradable paper wrapper and serves it up in a clown suit. Just the way we like it.

I can't say that I like that our society needs information packaged this way, but "edutainment" is the most effective way to disseminate information. Fat Head is well-researched, well-documented, funny, and imparts a critical message. Edutainment at its best.

This guy reminds me of my goofy, awkward childhood neighbor. I loved that man.

Coincidentally, I had just rewatched SSM and then discovered this gem. I saw SSM when it first came out. I was a starry eyed liberal back then. Seeing it again is so fascinating because it is such a reflection of who I am now, and how I've changed. I was also really into M. Moore as well. My overarching sentiment is that to be "into" anything you have to just blindly accept what is put in front of you. If you are "into" being a liberal then you will not seriously entertain any conservative ideology (and vice versa). And if you're "into" regulation than you wont entertain the concept of personal freedom (and vice versa).

Let's be honest, SSM has a serious liberal bent to it. Furthermore, it's difficult to discern what his agenda is. To take down McDonalds? To fight the conservatives? Subversion of corporate America? Animal welfare? Public health?

M. Moore existed just to make the Bushes look bad. I think that was really his only agenda. And I think SSM only agenda was to make McDonalds look bad. They're muckrakers.

20 yrs ago McDonalds rolled out a low calorie, healthy menu. Why? Because they conducted a multi million dollar, nation wide survey and overwhelmingly ppl said they would eat healthy food if it was offered. It bombed and they removed the menu 2 short yrs later. The moral of the story is that ppl say one thing but behave differently. So, they went back to selling ppl what they want.

Fat Head only exists as a rebuttal to SSM. There's nothing wrong with that. Many musicians have only existed because they thought they could do it better. Many politicians have only gotten into politics because they thought they could do it better. And so it goes with athletes, businessmen, inventors, and comedians.

I think this is a great rebuttal to SSM.

i don't review many movies, but i had to comment on this piece of trash.

when all of the films 'experts' had no listed credentials, i started to smell a rat. then when they opened their mouths to speak, i would've laughed if the nonsense they spouted weren't so dangerous

dr eades went to medical school alright, but never did a residency. he's board certified in NOTHING! why would he be one of the experts? like the film says, 'follow the money' - he writes...wait for it...diet books.

where were the cardiologists to talk about heart attacks and blood vessels? the neurologists to talk about the pathophysiology of stroke (i am a neurologist)? where were the research scientists?

according to this idiot, he is set up by his genes to be overweight, yet he eats nothing but crap for a month and he sheds a dozen pounds and all of his lipids have dropped. what was he eating before this film? salads? it was the lettuce he used to eat that made him fat. he should keep going with this diet, he'll be the most fit person ever.

i tell you what i see in my ER. young fat people and old slender people. it doesn't take a research grant to add that up. find me an obese 80 year old. 90 year old. good luck hunting.

the doctors involved in your day to day health are the ultimate skeptics. we review and critique every piece of medical literature. before we accept data, we LOOK for ways to invalidate it because that is our job. we fine tune research. there is no conspiracy.

isn't it odd that the average life expectancy continues to CLIMB when it's based upon a bunch of lies us doctors are telling you to pad our pockets? hmm.

(oh yeah, genius, cave men were healthy because they died in their 20s)

this guy is an idiot and the 'scientists' in this film should be ashamed.

In this particular case; the deceitful agenda of the powerful lobbying especial interest groups behind the shadowy "fattification" of the US of A. A smoke and mirrors "epidemic" which they themselves manufacture ("The Man", obv); knowingly and willingly. The medium is in a form of rebuttal to the lame Super Size Me one; even with the same tone. Except infinitely better and more funny. It also serves as a teaching aid in explaining why regular diets don't work, and the intuitive truth about how our metabolism has evolved to eat meat; not vegetables. Despite what you have been misled to believe all your life. I can't believe this isn't rated higher; but it doesn't surprise me as much anylonger. The problem for many then is, that oftentimes it comes too hard and lengthy on it subject matter. But it's OK, since after all; it was made by a self proclaimed on-the-side comic (nothing wrong with that either) And I thought it succeeded wonderfully in making fun of the referenced people and institutions; again, it was really good and funny. If any; I found out that it didn't pwnd them hard enough. I also didn't mind the low budget; for it was nicely shot, edited, and very well put together; also it gave it real character. The animations were well done, funny and informative as well. Hence, the problem with sheeple is that when you tell them explicitly; then it's always your fault. They resist you and go all STFUN&WTF on you. People just don't like to be accountable for their actions; let alone hint at being merely responsible. Not to mention that people get offended for the most irrelevant and silliest things; because he badmouthed Mcnutguy(Spurlock), some minorities, the govermint; etc. Give me a break! Nothing nowhere near when an anti establishment person utters a word. Eg, a 9/11 conspiracy; which I'd at least understand their closed minded, backlashing, emotional response. There's no need to say conspiracy anyhow; because everybody should know by now that the evil corporate-govermint is responsible. This has been proved time and time again. Yet sheeple just don't want to accept that simple fact. Nevertheless; I urge you to think and found out for yourself, if that's not the case. Ie, ask yourself; what parts were not true about those statements? None obv; at least to me. Vegnuts arguments are exactly like animal rights ones; they are all emotions over reasons. Because otherwise they'd have no arg "point"; ie anything to stupidly complain about. Vegetarism is malnourishing, sickening and anti-natural; deal with it. So if you eat like a pig; better stated, what a pig does; then you'll obv become a pig. No surprises; a bad rating or review, or self righteous indignation; at least from my behalf. Just kudos for telling it like it is, on a job superbly done!

This film is everything that a Documentary should be...accurate, educational, entertaining; even funny in parts (i.e. some of the animated scenes). You know, everything that most modern documentaries aren't. So many documentaries today are really more docu-ganda films than documentaries. Often times we get only half of the facts or the facts are conveniently re-arranged to suit the needs of the person behind the camera so that they can spew it out at us and have us just simply follow them like the lemmings that they treat us like.

Obviously Tom Naughton isn't a doctor or a scientist, he is a comedian. As a comedian, he puts a funny spin on the facts that he presents. He backs those facts up by calling in actual experts. I like also how he quickly deflates the common denominator myths on the streets of major cities. He interviews random people from all different walks of life and asks them the basic questions. Each and every one of them overwhelmingly knew the dangers of eating bad things in excess. I would wager a guess that not each and every one of them just happened to be wealthy so the "poor people are dumb" argument very quickly falls apart.

He openly admits a number of things in the making of this film. He goes into how we are all classified as certain things on the BMI scale. He is technically classified as obese even though he certainly doesn't look like it to me. He is also active, he works out regularly.

The idea is very simple, he eats McDonald's three times a day, every day for 28 days but he continues to do a lot of walking. The end result is that he has lost weight, his HDL/LDL Triglycerides are all well within the normal range as was his cholesterol. He also goes on to point out that Morgan Spurlock would've had a hard time eating all of the calories that he said he did based on the (by the way very openly available) dietary information provided by McDonald's. No one pressured Tom into ordering more food; I believe that one McDonald's asked him if he wanted a large something and he said no, it was over, that's it! Morgan pointed out that he was asked numerous times in Supersize Me if he wanted to have his meal Supersized and he goes on to say that the bulk of those times was in Texas. I don't live in Texas but I visit there once a year. In all the times I've gone (back when they had a supersize) I was never once asked if I wanted a meal supersized. There is another fast food chain where I live that constantly asks however.

I really enjoyed how we are told in Supersize me that 25% of adults are obese. We see Tom on the city streets filming and it took him days to find all of these obese people. It seems logical to me that if there were that many overweight adults, he would have seen them a lot sooner.

He also comes up with an interesting question, challenging the number of calories that Spurlock actually consumed. When he attempted to get a food log from him, his people said they'd get it to him but they never did. I think it would've been interesting to see what was in it. Fat Head is pretty informative and a whole lot of fun. Take the time to watch it and it will amuse you at the very least. I like that it tries to make people accountable for their own health and well-being. It isn't the job of the U.S. Government or society in general to police what your children eat…it is your job!

Fat head is a documentary that really aims to help us understand the problem of obesity. It does not take the easy route and blame the corporations, instead it looks at recent documentaries such as 'Super size me' and analysis the facts presented. Fat head also really digs into the science of foods, this enables us to understand the food markets and what the consequence of consuming certain foods have. Like other documentaries, he interviews a various amount of doctors and academics. This provides the audience with plenty of information about how our ancestors ate, and also why our diets changed so dramatically from then.

"Supersize Me", of course, is the inspiration and guiding light of this film. "Fat Head" was conceived as a foil to it, and therefor exists, in its own estimation, as a rebuttal of it. But does it succeed in even this?

Well, in a word, no. "Supersize Me" was not a piece of science, but at least it was valid, whatever else might be said about it. One of the salient points that could be noted about "Supersize Me" was that it never pretended to be science, whereas "Fat Head" does pretend to be science. In particular it pretends to "debunk". Unfortunately, it debunks several points from "Supersize Me" that do not exist, and addresses none of the issues that "Supersize Me" attempted to address.

"Supersize Me" never addressed weight-management as a key point. "Supersize Me" never made ANY scientific claims whatsoever, as it turns out. Yet "Fat Head" would have you believe that it exists as some sort of counterpoint to "Supersize Me" and then hinges itself almost entirely on the weight issue. Using mostly vitriol and acid, it attempts to defame and ridicule Spurlock. Most interesting. Why? I would love to have the resources to follow the money, as it were, although I fear that the conclusion of such a study is already foregone. Corporate interest.

So everyone, can we Mao-down our McDonalds and thereby become pillars of health and well-being? Are we to best heal our illnesses on a steady diet of sugar, fat, MSG and nitrates? Well, sure, sure we should, if you adhere to the straw-man premises and red-herring conclusions of this rather sorry film.

I'm a meat-eater, though I tend to throttle back on the red meat much of the time, and munch down the fish, poultry, lamb and pork when I can. That is unless you put a medium-rare fillet mignon in front of me, in which case, hell, count me in, I can't resist, as long as it's not every day. Yet this film deeply unsettled me. It struck me as naked propaganda, as an attempt to manipulate my mind against my own self- interest and that of my family. In short: it was a sad example of a bought-and-paid-for mediocrity putting forth a straw man via a cowardly and mercenary effort, and as a bit of an assault on my basic common sense. I urge you to watch this in order to better understand how the fawning, mainstream media will attempt to mess with your head...and your body...every chance it gets.